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Author	Topic: Laura Weber
TheNewDeal Member Posts: 651 From: Everywhere, U.S.A. Registered: Aug 2006	posted 08-09-2006 10:15 Hi,I'm new to the forum!(uh,hum.....) I first dabbled with guitar on an old $10 used Stella guitar I bought in the early 1960's.There was a fantastic pioneering woman on PBS every week that taught folk guitar named Laura Weber.She was a great teacher and for $1 you sent away for her modest booklet with basic fingerpicking technique and some classic traditional folk songs.In her show every week you would simply follow along and copy what she did;however,the really cool thing--she featured a legendary artist every week on her show including Elizabeth Cotten,John Fahey and one of my first and still present guitar heroes,Jerry Hahn,amongst many others.Hahn played a staggering solo version of "Summertime" and a blistering version of one of his own tunes,"Moses",I believe,with his band.I notice the dear Ms. Weber died in 1995..... thank you LW for geting me started on my guitar and musical journey and kudos to a revolutionary educational show way ahead of it's time.Any of you other dinosaurs rememmber this show out there? TheNewDeal IP: Logged
Tom Austin Member Posts: 3326 From: Occidental, CA, USA Registered: Nov 1999	posted 08-09-2006 10:20 welcome, NewDeal! now that we have a NewDeal and a RealDeal, I guess it's only a matter of time before we have a LastFairDealGoneDown. IP: Logged
LastFairDealGoneDown New Member Posts: 2 From: Nowhere Registered: Aug 2006	posted 08-09-2006 10:34 Well Tom I’m here LastFairDealGoneDown IP: Logged
Dennis Roger Reed Moderator Posts: 1899 From: San Clemente, CA USA Registered: Sep 2000	posted 08-09-2006 10:52 I remember Frederick Noad on PBS. I hated classical guitar, but I thought he was a very cool dude with his David Bowie/English schoolboy hair cut and satorial splender. I do recall a PBS guitar show with a young lady who always or often wore a Bob Dylan type cap. Was that Laura? IP: Logged
stagolee Member Posts: 582 From: Fullerton, CA, USA Registered: Aug 2002	posted 08-09-2006 11:22 Remember that clip of John Fahey somebody posted about a month or two ago?? Laura Weber was the woman in it who objected to Fahey's using his guitar as an ashtray. Len IP: Logged
Andy Volk Member Posts: 196 From: Boston, MA USA Registered: Dec 2005	posted 08-09-2006 11:43 Here's a story from a fansite devoted to folk guitarist and singer Christine Lavin, a very talented and funny performer .... "I asked Christine how she learned to play guitar. She told me that in the mid 60s there was a television program on PBS that taught guitar. The TV teacher's name was Laura Weber. Christine sent in a dollar to get the accompanying book, and learned to play by watching the show and following along in the book. Christine performed her first concert at the "Peekskill Military Academy", an all boys school. She was 14 years old and performed at a Hootenanny there. One day, when Christine was 39, she was giving a concert in San Francisco. Laura Weber, the TV guitar teacher, had read or heard an earlier interview with Christine in which she mentioned that she learned Guitar on PBS when she was a kid. Christine didn't know it, but Laura came to attend her concert that evening. She was back stage getting ready to go out on stage when a note was sent back. On it was written "did I teach you to play guitar?" and was signed, "Laura Weber". When Christine got out on stage, she asked if her guitar teacher was out there, and she finally got to meet Laura in person." IP: Logged
Gerald Ross Member Posts: 235 From: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA Registered: Sep 2004	posted 08-09-2006 11:46 Back in the late 60's I watched Laura Weber's show religiously every Saturday afternoon. I learned my first fingerpicking patterns from her. I had a HUGE crush on her. I was 14 years old. -- ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gerald Ross Northwest Ann Arbor, Michigan's King of the Hawaiian Steel Guitar http://www.umich.edu/~gbross Board of Directors Hawaiian Steel Guitar Association http://www.hsga.org IP: Logged
TheNewDeal Member Posts: 651 From: Everywhere, U.S.A. Registered: Aug 2006	posted 08-09-2006 23:12 Thanks Tom for the welcome(wink,wink). Ignore that post from the LFDGD....he's an imposter behind the curtain in more ways than one! DRR--Yeah,that was Laura alright....the Noad show was a few years later,but well done as well. Len--Yeah,the Fahey show was great....one of many great guest artists the show produced each week. AV--Right,many other performers ,including Lavin, credited Weber's show with being a motivating factor in their initial guitar education journies. GR--Hey,a fellow dinosaur! I knew I'd find another regular viewer out there. What a great show,eh? I think we all had a crush on her. Did you send your dollar in for the booklet...I still have mine! A great show from a great teacher....I still use her fingerpicking patterns for beginning students. TheNewDeal IP: Logged
OpenSeeMore Member Posts: 23 From: Union City, CA USA Registered: Aug 2006	posted 08-15-2006 15:59 Hi All. (newbie here). Back in 1985, when I was a student at San Francisco State University, I enrolled in Laura Weber's "Folk Guitar I" class. I had always wanted to learn how to play guitar, but I actually signed up for her class because I needed 2 units to achieve full-time student status. Little did I know that I would take to the instrument as I did and continue to study under Laura's direction for the next two years. One day, she asked me to perform for her advanced class a composition I had written in Open D tuning. By this time, I had completed a second enrollment in her Folk Guitar II class and had moved on to pursue my major in Radio/TV broadcasting. Afterwards, someone in her class asked me to play another tune. I was squeamish about trying to play anything else because most of my repetoire were "in the works." I did, however, just finished learning how to play The Processional by Will Ackerman. I almost broke the third string tuning from Open D to Ackerman's crazy key for that song (haunting and lovely, but always risky). After I played The Processional, Laura was just beaming. I was flattered that she was so proud of me. She said to the class, "He's only been playing guitar for two years! All you have to do is practice, practice, practice." She didn't tell them all that I practiced anywhere from 4 to 6 hours a day. Anyway, time passed and we lost touch. I went on to graduate and pursue my broadcast production career. Years later I learned that she had developed cancer. I understand that Laura's final resting place is somewhere in Hayward, California. I'm not sure which cemetary. I've been trying to find out where because I would like to pay her my respects, maybe bring my stick and play her some new tunes I've figured out in Open C (my favorite tuning). I'm glad that all of you found Laura's original PBS program inspiring. She used to show some of her programs in class. I asked her if she kept her original Quadruplex videotapes (open reels, not cassettes). She said she had them all. I highly suspect, though, if the tapes haven't been archived properly that they've degraded to be unviewable. And, I have no idea who the steward(s) of these valuable pieces of Americana is (are). -- String'em Loose! IP: Logged
TheNewDeal Member Posts: 651 From: Everywhere, U.S.A. Registered: Aug 2006	posted 08-16-2006 00:37 OSM--Thanks for that update on Ms. Weber's whereabouts after the initial show left the air for all us original viewers;I had a hard time finding out any info...thanks for filling in the gaps quite thouroughly!! TheNewDeal IP: Logged
outfidel Member Posts: 1641 From: Ridgewood, NJ Registered: Jul 2001	posted 08-16-2006 05:42 In case you haven't seen it, the Fahey & Cotten performances from Laura Weber's show are available on this DVD IP: Logged
Pat Daley Member Posts: 434 From: Newburgh, NY Registered: Feb 2003	posted 08-16-2006 06:03 Outfidel - I think you need 2 DVDs now. Half of each VHS from your link were put separately on a John Fahey DVD and an E. Cotten DVD along with other performances they did. Still well worth getting both. Stefan Grossman had (or perhaps still has) access to many other Laura Weber shows, but he thought only these 2 fit in with his Vestapol videos. (And thanks for posting the Jorma link - nice article.) IP: Logged
Randy Fortune Member Posts: 215 From: Fresno, California, U.S.A. Registered: Nov 1999	posted 08-16-2006 06:27 I learned my first finger picking techniques from that show. Good to know there are so many others that were influenced by Laura. IP: Logged
Warleg New Member Posts: 1 From: Oklahoma Registered: Jan 2008	posted 01-15-2008 13:40 This note intended primarily for "TheNewDeal", but if others can help, pls do. I saw an old post of yours (8/2006) about "Laura Weber" and her wkly TV instruction for beginner's guitar lessons. I was also a "student" and enjoyed the classes. I noted that you still have her instruction book (or books........if I remember correctly, she had 3 or 4 of them) I had all of them and somewhere along the way they were lost. I am interested in having a set of these books. Even copies of them would work for me. If you still have, or know where copies are, I'm interested. Thanks, Warren (warleg@arbuckleonline.com) wfl IP: Logged
erk187 Member Posts: 500 From: Erkmanistan. ( how could I not?) Registered: Mar 2006	posted 01-15-2008 19:42 I have a tape of the fahey show and Elizabeth cotton. wow.. Something to go watch! Thanks for the reminder IP: Logged
TheNewDeal Member Posts: 651 From: Everywhere, U.S.A. Registered: Aug 2006	posted 01-16-2008 11:12 quote: Originally posted by Warleg: This note intended primarily for "TheNewDeal", but if others can help, pls do. I saw an old post of yours (8/2006) about "Laura Weber" and her wkly TV instruction for beginner's guitar lessons. I was also a "student" and enjoyed the classes. I noted that you still have her instruction book (or books........if I remember correctly, she had 3 or 4 of them) I had all of them and somewhere along the way they were lost. I am interested in having a set of these books. Even copies of them would work for me. If you still have, or know where copies are, I'm interested. Thanks, Warren (warleg@arbuckleonline.com) wfl I have the original first booklet she sent out in the mail for $1 way back when...don't have any of the other books that came after...I can make copies for you when I dig out of a few boxes and locate it...I'll let you know. IP: Logged

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